Ten of us left our work on Monday, and it feels so good. (warning: long story)
So, up until Monday, I was a lead shipper at my company. I supervised five people in my department.
Unlike many industries, we never shuttered and kept everyone throughout the pandemic. What’s more, nobody caught the virus during the time due to, well…due diligence on our part.
So, while the office staff was successful in negotiating raises to stay at home, we got to thinking: our cost of living has gone up. everything became more expensive, and we still have to come in, why aren’t we allowed a sizeable raise?
I mean, the sales staff only have to come in one every two weeks for half a day, why should they get a big raise when we still had to drive in each day?
HR came in twice a week at best, and our accounts payable/receivable person hadn’t been in the office for two years: trust me, we know.
Ten of us (myself, my five staff members, and the four janitors who somehow fell under my supervision, I don’t know how) sat down and decided to do something about it: we brought our concerns to HR.
We asked for simple things, really: a fifteen percent raise per person, as that’s the average rate that the office drones got.
We basically told HR that we were overworked, underpaid, and pissed off, and that’s not something they want the people who distribute their product or keep the facilities in tip top shape to be.
HR scoffed at it. Proving how clueless the department is. But when they said they didn’t have the money, that’s when s-t really hit the fan. I looked the HR rep straight in the eye and told her that being lead in the logistics department, I knew exactly what was coming in, what they paid for it, and what they were selling things for.
Yeah, I know Bills of Lading and invoices. She didn’t have a response for that outside of stammering, saying that there’s more it than that.
So, we left the meeting, not a dollar richer, and even more frustrated…but I did have an ace up my sleeve: one of my oldest friends from school was promoted to VP of logistics at another company: when I informed him of my issues where we were, he said that they were looking to hire new staff.
We started to discuss numbers, and after a week he was able to offer the ten of us employment contracts for everything we all asked for but was denied. Fifteen percent more than what we were paid originally, extra days off, and some neat perks we always joked about wanting, like an arcade machine in the lunch room, and free coffee.
Contracts in hand, it was a easy sell to convince everyone to sign. Within the day everyone signed, and had a two week notice letter drafted to HR.
I delivered them to HR, and after they got over the laughter, they said they wouldn’t acknowledge them. I explained that these were signed, and as I was their superior, I accepted them and wished them well.
They didn’t like that. HR thought I was full of s-t, and I left the office immediately. I told the crew that they didn’t accept the letters, but that wasn’t their problem…just carry on, do your jobs until the last day, don’t talk to HR (they never came to the back, because ew, it’s dirty and dusty) and on your last day, empty your locker.
Fast forward to Monday: Nobody in my department shows up for work. They find the locker room empty, my office is cleaned out, and everyone’s uniforms are hanging neatly where they belong.
I don’t care.
Fast forward to today: I find all our jobs posted on a few job boards: each offering the same rate of pay we earned before we left. I was informed in the office that the company owner is absolutely irate and wants to fire HR because of how this all went down.
At least three of his contracts cancelled and he’s dealing with a load of other issues stemming from this. Couple that with trying to hire and train the new staff and get the required certification and forklifts certs if necessary for the new staff.
I want to say I didn’t enjoy how this all played out, but I can’t. Sorry.
By the way, how did the manager find out? I told him that we all quit via mass email two minutes before we were supposed to start on Monday morning, detailing all of this. Every single person in the company directory: vendor, customer and all, found out.